


Garage

by RainbowArches



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 16:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5423606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowArches/pseuds/RainbowArches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joey's practicing with his powers. Mack is impressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Garage

It didn’t take long for Mack to start thinking of Coulson’s office as his office. Not much longer than it took him to get comfortable with directorship- an impressively short amount of time, if he said so himself, given that he was promoted in the middle of a crisis and that was nerve-wracking as hell. But that crisis had been successfully taken care of so he could stop putting on his hero face extra hard to hide that he was freaking out and just take some time to enjoy his new position. And his desk. He loved his desk.

But he missed his garage. It was easier to think in there. Missions, Inhumans, Secret Warriors, alien portals, Hydra; everything was clearer when he was tinkering with something. Right now he needed to think about the state of Shield and what kind of director he needed to be to keep it running at its best, and that just wasn’t happening in his office.

The garage was empty save for Joey, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by scrap metal. There was a growing pile of glittering, mostly silver objects next to him. As Mack got closer he saw that they were Christmas ornaments. There were also a couple of menorahs; one to hold real candles and one that was purely decorative with handcrafted candles built in.

“You’re really good at that,” Mack said. “Thinking of switching career paths?”

Joey looked up and grinned at him. “Always good to have a backup.”

“Daisy put you up to this?”

“Yep.” Joey looked back down at the structure he was working on. It looked like the bottom half of a Christmas tree. His brow furrowed as he concentrated. A few silver pine needles sprouted from a bare branch.

“And what’s the point of this exercise?”

“Something about details and intricacy and… I honestly don’t remember. But it’s fun. Whatever the point was, it worked.”

Mack crouched next to him and reached for one of the ornaments. “May I?”

“Be my guest.”

He picked up a figurine that had caught his eye. It was an angel or fairy- a girl with long legs and pointed feet and wings. The wings were thin and delicate, their detailed with line patterns that mimicked the ones on leaves. He traced the bumps where the metal had been raised to create the effect of the ballet slippers and dress being worn instead of painted on. She even had a face.

“Did you use moulds for these?”

“Nope. I have superpowers; moulds would be cheating.”

Mack put the fairy down and examined some of the others. There were a few tin soldiers, who’d all been given the same attention to detail but who all had slightly different faces. There was a reindeer with _Dasher_ imprinted on his saddle.

“These must have taken you a while.”

“I’ve been here all day,” Joey said proudly. Then he frowned. “There wasn’t a mission or anything, there?”

“No. Trust me; you’d know if there was a mission.”

“Oh. Good.”

Mack looked at back at the crafts. There was one he somehow hadn’t noticed until now. It was hidden amongst the bells and snowmen and other plainer ornaments. He picked it up. It was a bear, the generic cute, babyish looking kind, but it had a shotgun in one paw and an axe in the other, and it had a wreath on its head like a crown. He snorted in amusement.

Joey looked up to see what Mack was looking at. He flushed. “Heh, yeah. That’s just… it was missing something and I needed a muse.”

“I'd buy it.”

Joey beamed. “That’s what I’ll do if this doesn’t work out; sell personalized holiday decorations.” His back cracked as he stretched. He rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck, working out the kinks.

“Maybe you should take a break,” Mack said.

“I'm almost done. Sorry, you came in here for a reason. What can I do for you Director?”

“I just came down to see if I could get that car running again.” He pointed to the car that had been giving people trouble lately. It wasn’t urgent; more of a pet project for anyone who got bored.

“Oh. Guess I didn’t expect you to still be working in here after Coulson promoted you.”

“Yeah, well. Just cause I’m director now doesn’t mean I’m not still the best mechanic around here. “

“So, director, mechanic, head of alien artifacts, and Daisy’s… advisor?”

Mack shrugged one shoulder, accepting the term.

“Sounds like a full load.”

“Doesn’t get boring, I can tell you that.”

“Do you miss boring?”

“Mm. Sometimes.”

He stood up and wandered over to the car he was supposed to be working on. “Finish up. Don’t make me kick you out.”

 

When Mack got back to his office the bear Joey had made was sitting on his desk with a note that said _On the house._ He smiled. Though it was his office now, and his desk, Coulson still used it a lot and kept all his stuff there. Mack hadn’t bothered to make it look like his. The Christmas shotgun-axe bear was the first thing in the office that belonged to him before it belonged to anyone else. He hadn’t needed to christen the office but he was happy that it had been.

He went to find Joey to thank him. He passed by the game room and poked his head in to see if he was there. Daisy was there, setting up the tree and the ornaments that Joey had made on a table.

“They’re good, aren’t they?” she said without looking up. “Joey made them.”

“I know. He really enjoyed that project.”

“Yeah, I checked on him a few times, told him he could find something else to do. We might have a perfectionist on our hands.”

“Is he around?”

“Garage.”

Joey was at the workbench, taking apart one of the new guns from the lab. Mack went over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for the housewarming gift.”

Joey smiled up at him, face slightly pink. “You're welcome.”

Mack sat down next to him and looked at the disassembled weapon parts lined up on the table. “What’s the verdict?”

“We don’t have one yet. This isn't really my area of expertise. I just thought I should familiarize myself with... all this.”

“I've been there. Lets see if I can help you out.”

**Author's Note:**

> And then there was lots of accidental brushing of knees and elbows until one day Joey finally works up the nerve to kiss him.  
> "Permission to kiss you, Sir?"  
> "Permission granted."  
> That's probably how it would happen. They're really low-key.


End file.
